Various types of tools exist for the tightening and loosening of nuts, bolts and other fasteners. These include both manually actuated and automated screwdrivers, as well as various types of wrenches. One of the most common types of wrenches is the crescent wrench, which includes an elongated handle with a C-shaped wrench head on one end. In use, a nut or bolt is inserted between the opposing flanges of the wrench head, such that the flanges engage the flat surfaces on the nut or bolt. The wrench is turned in a clockwise direction to tighten the bolt or nut and in a counterclockwise direction to loosen the bolt or nut.
A more complex type of wrench, which is widely used in various mechanical applications, is the socket wrench. A socket wrench includes an elongated handle fitted with a ratchet assembly on one end. Cylindrical sockets of various sizes are removably attached to a male connector element on the ratchet assembly. Each socket is provided with multiple interior ridges or teeth for engaging the flats on a bolt or nut. A directional selector is provided on the ratchet assembly to select the direction of rotation of the socket, for incremental tightening or loosening of the bolt or nut, when the socket is attached to the ratchet assembly. The socket wrench imparts ease, convenience and flexibility to the bolt or nut tightening and loosening procedure, since there is no need to disengage and re-engage the socket with respect to the bolt or nut each time positional re-adjustment of the wrench handle is necessary during tightening or loosening.
A common drawback associated with conventional crescent and socket wrenches is the difficulty, which is often encountered in accessing bolts or nuts in enclosed or inaccessible areas. Crescent wrenches are typically capable of engaging the flats on a bolt or nut only as long as the longitudinal axis of the wrench handle is disposed in the plane of the bolt or nut. With regard to socket wrenches, the socket attached to the ratchet assembly is typically disposed at a ninety-degree angle with respect to the wrench handle. Therefore, sufficient clearance must exist between the ratchet assembly of the wrench and the bolt or nut to be tightened or loosened to facilitate proper engagement of the socket with the bolt or nut. Furthermore, sufficient clearance must exist between the throws of the wrench handle to facilitate a full range of back-and-forth movement of the handle as the ratchet assembly rotates the socket.
Various types of wrenches and wrench attachments are known in the U.S. patent literature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,054,687 discloses a wrench, which includes an elongated handle from which extends a shaft. A shank is mounted on the shaft, and a nut-engaging member is provided on the shank. The nut-engaging member is capable of receiving a hex-headed nut in such a manner that the handle can be rotated along an arc of rotation disposed within the plane of the nut. However, as the nut-engaging member is disposed in fixed relationship to the handle, the wrench of the '687 patent does not include various connectors, which can be incorporated between the handle and the nut-engaging member to facilitate multi-directional positioning of the handle with respect to the nut.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,669,147; 2,708,855; and 2,715,347 disclose wrenches each having a handle pivotally attached to an engaging member for engaging a nut or bolt. However, the wrenches disclosed in those patents provide only a single positional adjustment point between the engaging member and the handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,358 discloses a wrench adaptor, which includes an elongated portion having a rectangular opening provided in a flange at one end for receiving a male connector element on a socket wrench and an Allen wrench receptacle in the other end for receiving an Allen wrench. The wrench adaptor is capable of providing a parallel connection between the handle of the socket wrench and an Allen screw when the Allen wrench is inserted in the Allen screw. However, the wrench adaptor as disclosed is incapable of providing multi-directional attachment capability between a wrench handle and a nut or bolt to be tightened or loosened in order to facilitate access to nuts and bolts in hard-to-reach areas.
Additional wrenches and wrench heads, all of which are incapable of providing multi-directional positioning capability of a wrench handle with respect to an engaging member for engaging a nut or bolt, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. D115,301; D433,895; D442,041; D473,768; 3,188,895; 4,811,638; 4,967,612; 5,131,300; and 5,582,083; and U.S. Statutory Invention Reg. No. H1689.
Accordingly, there is a need for connectors, which are capable of connecting a nut- or bolt-engaging member to a handle in various orientations and configurations to facilitate tightening and/or loosening a nut or bolt located in inaccessible areas.